A Peaceful Break
by Sakura Blossoms Falling
Summary: Kabuto is looking for a special medical plant, but what he finds instead will remind him of peaceful days.


**After finishing A Favor I had a sudden urge to write a one-shot about Kabuto since he is my favorite antagonist. **

***Only Saku is mine.**

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><p>A dull gray haired ninja wandered through the forest, in search of some rare medical plant that he had obtained information for. The rare plant was said to grow only in a certain part of this forest.<p>

The ninja knelt down next to a plant that looked like the one the informant had described. He reached out to touch it when he sensed a presence behind him. He whipped out a kunai knife and whirled around to face his enemy.

Large, innocent violet eyes stared back at him. He sighed and put the kunai away. "It's not nice to sneak up on people, you know." He admonished the young girl that hid behind a plant.

There was a lot of rustling and then a small girl crawled out. She was small and had a black, ragged cloak that was caked with dirt and filled with holes. It was also twice the size of her causing the bottom to drag a few feet behind her. The girl looked up at Kabuto with big eyes. Kabuto stared back.

Glomp! Kabuto stumbled back as the girl threw herself at him and hugged him around the waist. He chuckled and patted the girl on the head. "What's the matter? Are you lost?" The girl shook her head.

Kabuto sighed and disengaged the little girl's arms from his waist. He stepped back and, keeping a firm grip on the girl's tiny shoulders, knelt down so he was at eye level with her and said, "I have a plant to look for so I can't help you right now." The girl tipped her head to the side. "You should go back home now." She blinked and then reached out and tugged on a lock of hair that had escaped his ponytail. Kabuto smacked her hand away. "Stop that."

The girl's eyes teared up and she began crying. Kabuto gave himself a mental slap. _The hell was he doing, making a girl cry? _He sighed and then, not knowing what else to do, drew the small girl in for a gentle hug. The girl's arms latched around his neck and she stopped crying.

Kabuto leaned back and looked at the girl, "Are you okay now?" She nodded. "What's your name?" He asked her. The girl tilted her head and bit her bottom lip in thought. Then she bent down and wrote in the dirt with her finger, "Saku." Kabuto read it and then looked at he girl.

"Your name's Saku?" The girl smiled and nodded vigorously. "Can you talk?" She shook her head and then wrote "illness" in the dirt next to her name. Kabuto nodded absently.

A loud bird call startled Saku and she ran into Kabuto's arms again and buried her face in his neck. The force at which she threw herself at him made him fall back. He chuckled and patted her on the back. "It's fine, Saku. It was just a really noisy bird." She looked up at Kabuto with trusting eyes and then nodded. She let go of his neck and stood up.

Kabuto reached into his pocket and withdrew a painted picture of the plant that he was there to find. The girl noticed the picture and snatched it from him. "Oi! Give that back!" Kabuto grabbed the picture back and inspected it to make sure she hadn't damaged it.

Saku impatiently tugged on Kabuto's belt and pointed into the forest. "Hmm? You know where this plant grows?" He looked in the direction she was pointing, but only saw more forest. Saku nodded adamantly.

"Okay, lead the way then." Kabuto was immediately pulled along by the girl's tiny hands. They were so small that she could only grab three of his fingers. She pulled him through bushes, over streams, around large rock formations and just when Kabuto had had enough she stopped and pointed.

They were on the top of a small knoll and all around them, the plant grew. Kabuto's eyes widened and he looked down at Saku. She was looking up at him with a big smile. He ruffled her hair, "Nice job, little girl." He wasted no time in plucking a few samples of the plant and placing them into a sealing scroll for safe keeping.

Kabuto glanced over at Saku and saw that she was laying on her back and staring up at the sky. The tree canopy broke over this knoll and allowed one to see the beautiful, flawless blue sky. Saku had her arms outstretched and it looked to him like she was straining to catch a cloud.

Kabuto silently watched her for a while, amused by this innocent girl's perspective on the world. Saku looked over at him and waved. He smiled and waved back. She rolled onto her stomach and patted the ground beside her. Kabuto took the not-so-subtle hint and lay down next to her.

Saku giggled and laced her small fingers threw his larger ones and stared at the sky. As Kabuto laid there with her and watched the occasional white wisp of a cloud go by; he could almost forget who he was. He could forget all the struggles in the world outside of this forest, all the turmoil that Akatsuki and his master caused. He sighed contently and closed his eyes. He felt Saku wriggle closer and snuggle into his side. He wrapped a protective arm around her and promptly fell asleep.

Kabuto was awakened by a noise, or more like a feeling, he cautiously sat up and looked around. It was night and the sky had turned from endless blue to endless stars. He noticed the little girl's absence from his side and started panicking. He shot to his feet and looked around, opening his mouth in preparation to yell for her.

He stopped when a twinkle of light caught his eye. He turned towards it and saw the most beautiful sight that he would ever see in his life.

Saku was standing a small distance away, a bright smile of pure joy and happiness on her face. She was surrounded by small glowing orbs of light that pulsed like a heart beat. The glow made her look absolutely angelic. Kabuto was stunned out of his mind.

As he watched another, larger orb descended from the heavens and slowly transformed into a glowing young woman. She held her hand out to Saku who took it and she too began to glow with radiance. She turned back to Kabuto one last time and waved goodbye before turning into an orb of light and following the others back into the cosmos.

Kabuto blinked his eyes open and suddenly sat up in alarm. He swiftly scanned the grassy knoll around him and saw that there were no glowing orbs, no glowing people and no Saku. He felt a heavy weight settled on his heart as he thought about the little girl. He had only known her for less than a day, but it felt as if they had been best friends for a lifetime.

He sighed and shook her head to rid him of these fantasies; he had to get back to Orochimaru or he'd get into trouble. He stood up and stretched and then reached down to grab his bag and froze.

There, where Saku had lain beside him, was a single iris flower in full bloom. He bent down and carefully stroked its delicate petals and then, with extreme caution, he gently uprooted it and sealed it in a special scroll, one he used for his secret, personal belongings.

After he was done, Kabuto stood up and headed back to Orochimaru and the real world. But as he walked he could see a little girl walking beside him, smiling up at him with the most innocent smile; and he knew that she'd never go away again.

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><p><strong>So my report card is going to come soon and my mom will mostly likely take my laptop away because this quarter my grades have been <span>absolute<span> crap.**

**This means that no more writing or publishing! *cries in a corner***

**This will probably be my last story for a while. Sorry about that.**


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